My Father's an Alchemist
by Matthieu Thompson
Summary: Alexander Daniels, besides his extraordinary mind he was just an ordinary high school kid, until two years ago his parents died, setting off a massive chain reaction. Now he has to survive this secret high school for alchemist, run by an immortal teenager named Dimitri. Him and his newly found friends then go on to discover a secret plot to destroy life as we know it.


**Chapter 1**

My lab partner's an

Alchemist

He was tall, pale and thin. His lanky arms almost seemed to drag across the floor. There was a look on his face, a look of boredom and unamusement. The guy wore bull-horned glasses over his bright green eyes, and a large gage in one ear. His black hair was flipped to one side under his black beanie. Most would describe him as a hipster, but he seemed darker to me. He couldn't have been older than 19. Black tribal tattoos peaked out from under his collar and his sleeves. He stood in the front of the class, his eyes almost looking past all the students in Mr. George's chemistry class.

"Okay kid, say your name to the class." Mr. George said to him. The kid's eyes glided over to Mr. George, but still seemed to look through him.

"James." He spoke in a deep monotone voice that almost felt as if it pierced into your soul and cut out any dreams you once had. _"James."_ I thought, _"My father's name." _As if hearing my thoughts his green eyes darted to me, but this time they didn't seem to look through me. They zeroed onto me like the eyes of a hawk. I felt my breath leave me out of fear. His eyes looked as if he was a predator honing down on his prey.

"Now that you've introduced yourself, go find a seat and I can begin my lesson." Said Mr. George. 'James' floated to the back of the room and plopped down in the seat two behind me. I could feel his eyes honed on me. "Ok class," Mr. George interrupted my thoughts, "today we're goin' to be doin' an experiment." Some of the class began talking in excitement. That's when I noticed a group of girls near me gossiping to each other. From what I could hear they were talking about James. I huffed. They did the same thing only a week ago, when I stood in front of the class as the new kid.

I was instantly labeled as, Alex, the freakishly genius, 15 year old boy. "Alex!" My thoughts were interrupted, again, by Mr. George. He looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked confused. James chuckled in the back.

"Is something funny?" Mr. George asked him. He just rolled his eyes and looked out the window to the courtyard. "Anyway," Mr. George's eyes came back to me, "I was asking if you could catch James up to where we are in the class and help him during the experiment, so he's not left behind."

"Me? Why?" I asked.

"Because, Mr. Daniels, you have the highest grade point average in this class, and seem to know the subject well." I sighed at the fact that he reminded me that I'm the smartest person in the class. I rolled my eyes. "Then it's settled," He said, "You and James over there will be lab partners for the remainder of the year." I almost choked at the last part and looked at him as he walked away. Then, I looked back at James, who had a crooked grin on his face. I could almost hear him laughing inside my head.

Mr. George continued to instruct us to our lab tables. I walked over to my table trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. I sat down with my eyes zeroed on the countertop. That's when I realized he was already sitting next to me. I didn't even hear him walk over. I could still feel his eyes on me. Trying to ignore him I listened to Mr. George's instruction on how to prep for the experiment. It took a good twenty minutes before I realized, I couldn't do it all on my own. James just sat there looking at me. Without looking back, I spoke, "You know, you could help." I tried to put as much spite into the words as I could. He remained silent. "Seriously, man. Do you want to get a bad grade on this, cause if not, help me?"

He sighed. "Chemistry. What a sad excuse for Alchemy." I looked at him confused. He proceeded to pull a small piece of glistening paper out of his pocket and dropped it into a beaker of water, and it began to fizz up.

"What are you-" I was interrupted by a flash and a loud boom that shook the entire school.

_ '__Ringing? What is that ringing?' _I thought, 'Where am I?' I couldn't see. The room was filled with smoke. That's when I remembered. The new kid, the experiment, the glistening paper. It all came flooding back so fast it made my head hurt. That pain preoccupied me until I realized I wasn't touching the ground. Someone was carrying me. I began to panic. Questions popped into my head, _'Who is this? Why are they carrying me? Am I being kidnapped?' _At that thought I began to flail at my captor's back. Being a small guy it didn't do much, but it was enough to knock him off his balance. I fell to the floor as he dropped me.

My shoulder hit the ground with a _'Crack!' _Pain shot through my arm, and I winced back at it. I opened my eyes only to see the shadow of a thin man standing over me. His green eyes glowed through the smoke. He pulled out a hand full of glowing gold dust, and knelt down next to me. I tried to back away, but my body refused. It was almost as if I was frozen in fear. In a whispered voice he spoke, saying "Sleep." He blew the dust in my face and a wave of exhaustion flooded over me. I felt my consciousness slipping away. I fought to stay awake, but it was too much for me and I fell into the depths of sleep. I then realized who that voice belongs to. James.

The dust gave me dreams. Weird ones filled with magic and monsters. The world I was in was wonky and inconsistent. Settings, events, people, seemed to change randomly and at any time. I was fully aware, but in no control of anything, not even myself. Slowly I felt this world of weird fade away and the world of reality slide back in. A bright yellow light shown through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and winced as that same light pierced into my retina. I rolled to the side to keep from looking at it. The room came into focus.

It was large. The ceiling seemed to a mile high, though I knew it was not. It looked almost like the inside of a cathedral. Giant pillars that formed into arches dotted the center line of the room. Rows of white beds filled it and matching white curtains surrounded some of them. I was baffled by the sheer number of them, and the fact that they were all empty.

A deep voice sounded from behind me, "You're awake." Startled, I turned around to see James sitting in a chair next to my bed, reading. I jumped out of my bed with the intention of running, but I was stopped by the sound of his voice echoing in the room again. "Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?" I questioned. He was silent for a second.

"To teach you." He said calmly, not looking away from his book.

"What makes you think I want to learn from you?" I asked.

"Your parents certainly did." This comment struck a nerve. I felt anger rising up from inside me. My parents have been dead for two years. I've been moved from foster home to foster home. That's the whole reason I was in that school in New York. I felt the heat on my face and a hatred I've never felt for someone before. I could feel my muscles tensing up and my body getting ready to attack.

"What makes you think you can talk about my parents as if you knew them?" The words came out calm, but there was a blazing sun walking in their midst. I walked toward. With every step a new hatred for him was formed. I saw only red. Almost no words could save him now. He managed to find the three that could.

"But I did." His words resonated of the walls, repeating themselves in the echo of the room. All the hatred drained from my body, all the red from my vision. All that buildup of hate and loathing with no place to go exhausted me. I dropped to floor. A soft thud rang through the room as my knees hit the floor. In his hand he held up a picture. A picture too old to be edited by a computer. Too real to be a fake. The reality of it made my heart ache.

The picture showed my parents, young and happy. They sat in a school courtyard, one that I don't recognize. A cherry tree flow in the wind behind them. They sat on a picnic blanket covered in assorted snacks. Between them sat a man. Long black hair and bright green eyes, with black tribal tattoos sprawled over his shoulder.

"To answer your question, my name is Dimitri Mendelevium." He said calmly, "I was a good friend of your parents." He stood up slowly and placed the picture back into the book. I was in shock. Tears ran down my face. Dimitri walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Come with me."

Almost as if I was in a trance I stood up slowly and walked behind him through decorated halls and massive doorways. He stopped suddenly in front of a rather ordinary door. Ordinary wood, brass handle, and a simple design carved into it. Dimitri twisted the handle and pushed into the room. He disappeared into darkness. Suddenly I heard a small click and a small bulb dimly lit a small office. He placed his book on the desk and waved for me to come in.

The room was covered with stacks of books, papers, drawings. As the shock wore off my interest rose. "Stay as long as you like." He said.

"Wait-" I started, but he shut the door. I twisted at the knob, but it wouldn't budge. I sighed. _'What am I going to do now?' _I thought. I turned around to inspect the room a bit more. My thoughts drifted toward the book. Dimitri had left it on the desk. The closer I looked at it the more interesting it became. A triangular symbol was on the front and a gold lock held it closed. The most interesting thing about the book was the inscription on the front. A name.

_James Alexander Daniels_

My Father.


End file.
